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- Hugh Wood
Divertimento, Op. 51 (2007)
- Chester Music Ltd (World)
Commissioned jointly by the Hampstead and Highgate Festival and Presteigne Festival
Programme Note
1. Maestoso - Andante, calmo ma con moto
2. Adagietto
3. Allegro molto, feroce
George Vass asked for a short piece for string orchestra which would open the Hampstead and Highgate Festival, and after to be played at the festival in Presteigne. I planned something straightforward and positive which would create no problems for first time listeners, and I hope I have succeeded.
There are three short movements. A formal introduction marked Maestoso leads into a lyrical movement on a very triadic main theme: it later incorporates some of the Maestoso material. The Adagietto begins with an eight-bar melody on muted strings. A more animated middle section has florid writing rising to a climax before the music returns to the original melody, now with a commentary upon it in the solo violin.
The last movement is more vigorous than its predecessors. A thumping figure leads to the main theme, succeeded by a mildly contrapuntal bridge passage. The second theme, lyrical and fifteen bars long, is heard on the highest register of the cellos, then repeated by the first violins, before being cut off by a return to the thumping figure and a certain amount of recapitulation, leading in turn to a sort of apotheosis of the original Maestoso material from the beginning of the work.
The day of its premiere is also George Vass's fiftieth birthday, so I thought it would be a good idea to dedicate it to him: which I do, with warm wishes and thanks for asking me to write it. Programme note by Hugh Wood
Media
Divertimento, Op. 51: I. Maestoso – Andante, calmo ma con moto
Divertimento, Op. 51: II. Adagietto
Divertimento, Op. 51: III. Allegro molto, feroce
Scores
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